


Sweet Sixteen

by Heyhey2997



Category: Weeds (TV)
Genre: Dysfunctional Family, Dysfunctional Relationships, Family, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, Other, Reconciliation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:53:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27043807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heyhey2997/pseuds/Heyhey2997
Summary: Set after an alternate ending of season 6. Shane is about to turn 16 in Copenhagen. As the well wishes start coming in and the preparations are underway, he can’t help but to wish a certain someone could there with him. But he knows it would ruin the delicate balance that they’ve managed to build.
Kudos: 2





	Sweet Sixteen

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction. I don't really know what I'm doing, so please excuse me if the characters are really ooc. But these are just some random thoughts I had while rewatching Weeds. I thought the show lost some quality after season 4, but I really didn't like the direction it went in after season 6. 
> 
> So this story is set one year after an alternate ending to season 6.Silas doesn't go join the other Botwins at the airport, Nancy gets on the plane with Stevie, Esteban sorts of gives up the chase, but Warren still gets called off the plane and is arrested.

Shane walked slowly into the apartment, more focused on going through the mail he had just collected. His sixteenth birthday was coming up and Renata, his new girlfriend/puppeteer lover, had told him to disappear so that she could prepare something for him. Naturally, he went back home to do nothing.

Letters had come in from people he hadn't seen since the Pilar incident. He had expected Isabelle's letter. They had mostly kept in touch through mail before Shane got his own laptop and they decided IMing was just easier.

Isabelle regularly updated him on what was going on with her family and her life back in California. Celia's little drug gang had fallen apart after an incident with a new supplier about the quality of product. Her mother had gotten into a fit and threatened to shoot the man if she wasn't compensated for the bad weed.

She and Dean didn't stay to hear the rest and had ran far away, moving around a bit before accidentally running across Heylia's secret weed plantation. She let them stay in exchange for Dean managing some finances, and they had been with her for the past six months. Apparently, there was something going on between the two adults as Isabelle had caught them secretly holding hands more than a few times.

Shane opened up her letter quickly. In it, Isabelle told him how special he was to her. Yes, she thought he was a little deranged, potentially dangerous, and could use some (read: lots of) medication, but he was always fun to hang around. He also wasn't an asshole like most of the other guys she went to school with, at least not to her. She missed him terribly. Nobody else was breaking into a teacher's home to get payback for stolen weed. Nobody else was accidentally shooting birds in their legs because a gangster gave imprecise directions. Life was becoming pretty slow for her without Celia and the Botwins. She asks if he's thinking of coming back for college. They could apply for the same schools. They're both pretty smart, they could probably go wherever they wanted. She ends her letter telling him to Skype her on his birthday.

He smiled and put the paper back in the envelope. They video chatted most weekends, how would this one be any different? But she seemed so insistent that they do it this weekend. So Shane wrote a mental note to call her during the party. At least, he expected there to be a party, even if it was just Renata, his family, some balloons, and a cake.

Ignacio had also sent sent him birthday wishes in a postcard. The cover was the skyline of San Jose set facing the bay. Through Isabelle, Shane knew that Ignacio had moved there. He was ditching the gangster life and was working on costumes. He was even planning on starting his own cosplay business. Cesar hadn't ratted him out for letting them go, and Esteban seemed to be okay with him moving on from the cartel.

There wasn't much that he wrote, only that they were still safe in Copenhagen and how he hoped that Shane was living his best life there. He also mentioned to expect a package from him as a birthday present. Shane gave a surprised huff at that. He wasn't really sure what to expect from the guy.

There were a few other letters, some were more wishes from his friends/acquaintances from Agrestic and Renmar. One was from Lenny. He mentioned how Shane was the only one in the family he still liked and hoped he didn't turn into some pansy while living in Copenhagen. There was also a hundred dollar bill in there, not that it would be useful to him in Denmark. The rest were mostly bills and junk mail.

But there was one letter which he quickly hid in his jacket pocket and took to his room. There was nobody else in the apartment. Nancy had gone out for a walk with Stevie, and Andy and Doug were doing their tours, but Shane was always extra cautious with this particular sort of letter. He sat on the side of his bed facing the window, away from the door, and examined the sender's details on the top left.

It was a letter from Silas.

His mom refused to talk about him, probably still mad that he had left them to stay with a stranger who happened to be his sperm daddy. Andy had updated Silas when they had settled into their new apartment, but then he avoided the topic completely to keep the peace. Doug did mention Silas and their business partnership, but that was only when he was high, and nobody paid attention to him then. Shane decided to follow his uncle's example, and kept his correspondence with his brother in secret.

So, whenever Shane got a letter from Silas, he quickly stashed it in his room and didn't tell anyone about it. He would then hide his reply under his shirt or in the inner pockets of his coat before going out and mailing it. He felt a little guilty about sneaking behind his mother's back, but he owed it to Silas to keep in touch.

After all, his brother had stayed with him after he got shot instead of going to Amsterdam. He had stayed with him when they had to leave California instead of branching off on his own. Now, he was alone with Lars Guinard in the middle of nowhere Michigan. Well, he was.

Silas had informed Shane earlier that he was going back to school. He had managed to get a late admission into MSU and was now just about finished up with his freshman year. He was majoring in botany, and was enjoying the realization that he was not actually dumb, and that he could go on to do real things in the real world.

He kept checking up on him, wanting to make sure everything was going okay in Europe. His questions were sometimes probing, asking if he's been feeling any different, what he thinks of the people there. Shane could see right through them. He knew that Silas was hoping for any tiny hint that his little brother was still there, not the remorseless killer that had replaced him.

Truth be told, Shane didn't know what he felt about the whole situation. Pilar had been trying to get rid of them, Shane and Silas at least, planning on making it look like an accident. Shane just struck first, defended the family, saved their asses.He didn't feel bad for doing that. 

He did, however, feel bad for little Stevie, who would now never know his father. He felt a little bad for Andy, being forced back on the run. But he had always wanted to go to Denmark, so that evened things out. He had mixed feelings about his mother. He did destroy her third marriage and robbed her of the lifestyle she enjoyed. But she had been unable to do anything to stop Pilar. In a way, he had helped her.

But really, he felt bad for Silas. The things that happened on the run had embittered him towards the family. Most of his life had turned out to be a lie. His dad, who he'd spent years morning over, turned out to not be his real dad. His mother had either cheated on him, or was pregnant with someone else's baby at the time of their wedding. Andy was not his real uncle, no matter what sort of mental link they had developed. And Shane, his little brother, was only his half brother.

Shane tried to keep things somewhat light. He joked about how Silas could go out into the woods and shoot at bears like they had seen on TV when they were younger. He reminded him of their public access show, "Good Morning Agrestic". But he still he kept Silas up to date about the other Botwins and Doug, so that he knew they were all safe, and that he could be who we wanted to be now. He wasn't tied down by the family anymore. He could even go to Pittsburgh.

And when he felt that Silas really needed it, he reminded him that the old Shane was still around, could be around. He told Silas about his insecurities with Renata. How he was still nervous around girls and how he felt like he needed to pretend to be a badass just to get them to notice him. He tells him that he wishes he could talk to Judah's ghost again, tell their dad every thing that happened, and find a way to fix things.

He tells Silas that even though he misses his big brother and their old family and their life in Agrestic, he wants him to be able to move on with his life. He thanks Silas for everything, for being his friend when he was still Strange Botwin, for helping keep Nancy out of trouble, for helping him with girls and sex, for being basically the only constant male protective figure in his life after their dad died, for keeping the family together. Silas is the only one of them with the chance to be normal now. He hopes that he enjoys it.

Smiling sadly, Shane moved to open the latest letter when he heard the front door open and his mom calling for him. His eyes widened, and he quickly hid the letter under the mattress and hurried out of his room.


End file.
